Cosmopolitan distribution

Orcinus orca and its range

In biogeography, a taxon is said to have a cosmopolitan distribution if its range extends across all or most of the world in appropriate habitats. Such a taxon is said to exhibit cosmopolitanism or cosmopolitism. The opposite extreme is endemism.

The term pandemism also is in use, but not all authors are consistent in the sense in which they use the term; some speak of pandemism mainly in referring to diseases and pandemics, and some as a term intermediate between endemism and cosmopolitanism, in effect regarding pandemism as subcosmopolitanism. This means near cosmopolitanism, but with major gaps in the distribution say, complete absence from Australia. Some debate whether the true opposite of endemism is pandemism or cosmopolitism.

The term "cosmopolitan distribution" usually should not be taken literally, because it often is applied loosely in various contexts. Commonly the intention is not to include polar regions, extreme altitudes, oceans, deserts, or small, isolated islands. For example, the housefly is nearly as cosmopolitan as any animal species, but it is neither oceanic nor polar in its distribution. Again, the term "cosmopolitan weed" implies no more than that the plant in question occurs on all continents except Antarctica; it is not meant to suggest that it covers the continents entirely.

Another concept in biogeography is that of oceanic cosmopolitanism and endemism. Though there is a temptation to regard the World Ocean as a medium without biological boundaries, this is far from reality; many physical and biological barriers interfere with the spread of many species. For example, temperature gradients prevent free migration of tropical species between the Atlantic and Indian-plus-Pacific oceans, even though there is open passage past continental masses such as the Americas and Africa/Eurasia. Again, as far as many species are concerned, the Southern Ocean and the Northern marine regions are completely isolated from each other by the intolerable temperatures of the tropical regions. In the light of such considerations, it is no surprise to find that endemism and cosmopolitanism are quite as marked in the oceans as on land.

Another aspect of cosmopolitanism is that of ecological limitations. An species that is apparently cosmopolitan because it occurs in all oceans, might in fact occupy only littoral zones, or only particular ranges of depths, or only estuaries for example. Analogously, terrestrial species might be present only in forests, or mountainous regions, or sandy arid regions or the like. Such distributions might be patchy, or extended, but narrow. Factors of such a nature are taken widely for granted, so they seldom are mentioned explicitly in mentioning cosmopolitan distributions.

It also is important not to confuse cosmopolitanism of a particular species or variety with cosmopolitanism of higher taxa. For example, the family Myrmeleontidae is cosmopolitan in the sense that every continent except Antarctica is home to some indigenous species of the Myrmeleontidae, but nonetheless no one species of the Myrmeleontidae is cosmopolitan. Conversely, partly as a result of human introduction of apiculture to the New World, Apis mellifera probably is the only cosmopolitan member of its family; the rest of the family have modest distributions.

Ancient and modern

Cosmopolitan distributions can be observed both in extinct and extant species. For example, Lystrosaurus was cosmopolitan in the Early Triassic after a mass extinction.

In the modern world, the killer whale has a cosmopolitan distribution, extending over most of the Earths's oceans. The wasp Copidosoma floridanum is another example, as it is found around the world. Other examples include humans, cats, the foliose lichen Parmelia sulcata, and the mollusc genus Mytilus. The term can also apply to some diseases. It may result from a broad range of environmental tolerances or from rapid dispersal compared to the time needed for evolution.

See also

• Ecoregion
• Gondwanan distribution
• Holarctic
• Pantropical